On September 5, 1774, forty-five of the weightiest colonial men formed the First Continental Congress at Philadelphia.

Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.

I'm a fervent foe of water pollution, whether it is our own Hudson River or Philadelphia's tap water.

The behaviour of President Bush on 11 September certainly gives rise to not unnatural suspicions.

Religions sprang up among men to deal with the sometimes terrifying aspects of existence, to make sense out of the senseless, to explain things we find inexplicable

I am an obsessive rewriter, doing one draft and then another and another, usually five. In a way, I have nothing to say, but a great deal to add.